Jamie Foxx 2003-2006: Ray, Unpredictable, and Dreamgirls
When did Ray come out?
When did Jamie Foxx release Ray?
In 2003, Foxx featured on the rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", together with Kanye West, which reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #3 on the UK Singles chart. His second collaboration with Kanye West, "Gold Digger," in which Foxx sang the Ray Charles-influenced "I Got a Woman" hook, then went straight to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining there for 10 weeks. In 2005, Foxx featured on the single "Georgia" by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob, which sampled Ray Charles' hit "Georgia on My Mind".  Foxx would also portray Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Foxx is the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies, Collateral and Ray (the only other male actor to achieve this feat being Al Pacino). In 2005, Foxx was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Foxx released his second studio album, Unpredictable, in December 2005. It debuted at #2, selling 598,000 copies in its first week, rising to #1 the following week and selling an additional 200,000 copies. To date, the album has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA. The album also charted on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at #9. Foxx became the fourth artist to have both won an Academy Award for an acting role and to have achieved a #1 album in the U.S, joining Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Barbra Streisand. Foxx's first single from the album, the title track "Unpredictable" (featuring Ludacris), peaked in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and also made the UK Top 20 singles chart; the track samples "Wildflower" by New Birth. The second US single from the album was "DJ Play a Love Song," which reunited Foxx with Twista. In the UK, the second single was "Extravaganza", which saw Foxx once again collaborate with Kanye West, although Foxx did not feature in the song's music video.  At the 2006 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Foxx won Best Duet/Collaboration with Kanye West for "Gold Digger" and tied with Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" for Video of the Year. On December 8, 2006, Foxx received four Grammy Award nominations, which included Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Love Changes featuring Mary J. Blige, Best R&B Album for Unpredictable, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictable featuring Ludacris.  Following on from these successes, Foxx went on to appear in the box-office hits Jarhead, Miami Vice and Dreamgirls, which lifted his profile even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood. CANNOTANSWER
2004
Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. In 1991 he joined the cast as a featured player in the sketch comedy show In Living Color until the show's end in 1994. Following this success, Foxx was given his own television sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, in which he starred, co-created and produced, airing for five highly rated seasons from 1996 to 2001 on The WB Television Network. 

He subsequently became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film Ray, for which he won the Academy Award, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming the second actor to win all five major lead actor awards for the same performance. That same year, Foxx was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the crime film Collateral. Since spring 2017, Foxx has served as the host and executive producer of the Fox game show Beat Shazam.

Other acting roles include Staff Sergeant Sykes in Jarhead (2005), record executive Curtis Taylor Jr. in Dreamgirls (2006), Detective Ricardo Tubbs in the 2006 film adaptation of TV series Miami Vice, Django Freeman in the film Django Unchained (2012), the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Will Stacks in Annie (2014), gangster Leon "Bats" Jefferson III in Baby Driver (2017) and as Walter McMillian in Just Mercy (2019), where he received a SAG Award nomination.

Foxx is also a Grammy Award-winning musician, producing four albums, which have charted in the top ten of the U.S. Billboard 200: Unpredictable (2005), which topped the chart, Intuition (2008), Best Night of My Life (2010), and Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses (2015).

Early life and education 
Eric Marlon Bishop was born on December 13, 1967, in Terrell, Texas. He is the son of Darrell Bishop (renamed Shahid Abdula following his conversion to Islam), who sometimes worked as a stockbroker, and Louise Annette Talley Dixon. Shortly after his birth, Foxx was adopted and raised by his mother's adoptive parents, Estelle Marie (Nelson), a domestic worker and nursery operator, and Mark Talley, a yard worker. He has had little contact with his birth parents, who were not part of his upbringing. Foxx was raised in the black quarter of Terrell, which at the time was a racially segregated community. He has often acknowledged his grandmother's influence in his life as one of the greatest reasons for his success.

Foxx began playing the piano when he was five years old. He had a strict Baptist upbringing, and as a teenager he was a part-time pianist and choir leader in Terrell's New Hope Baptist Church. His natural talent for telling jokes was already in evidence as a third grader, when his teacher would use him as a reward: if the class behaved well, Foxx would tell them jokes. Foxx attended Terrell High School, where he received top grades and played basketball and football (as quarterback). His ambition was to play for the Dallas Cowboys, and he was the first player in the school's history to pass for more than 1,000 yards. He also sang in a band called Leather and Lace. After completing high school, Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University, where he studied musical and performing arts composition.

Career

1989–2003: Beginnings and acting debut
Foxx first told jokes at a comedy club's open mic night in 1989, after accepting a girlfriend's dare. When he found that female comedians were often called first to perform, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx, feeling that it was a name ambiguous enough to disallow any biases. He chose his surname as a tribute to the black comedian Redd Foxx. Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991, where his recurrent character Wanda also shared a name with Redd's friend and co-worker, LaWanda Page. Following a recurring role in the comedy-drama sitcom Roc, Foxx went on to star in his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, from 1996 to 2001, and he also produced through his company Foxx Hole Productions.

Foxx made his film debut in the 1992 comedy Toys. His first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, where he was cast as a hard-partying quarterback, partly because of his own football background. During filming, Foxx fought with costar LL Cool J.

In 2001, Foxx starred opposite Will Smith in Michael Mann's biographical drama Ali. Three years later, Foxx played taxi driver Max Durocher in the Mann film Collateral alongside Tom Cruise, for which he received outstanding reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the Fox record label) entitled Peep This, which was not commercially successful. In 2003, Foxx made a cameo in Benzino's music video for "Would You", which features LisaRaye McCoy and Mario Winans.

2003–2006: Ray, Unpredictable, and Dreamgirls

In 2003, Foxx featured on the rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", together with Kanye West, which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #3 on the UK Singles chart. His second collaboration with Kanye West, "Gold Digger," in which Foxx sang the Ray Charles-influenced "I Got a Woman" hook, then went straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining there for 10 weeks. In 2005, Foxx featured on the single "Georgia" by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob, which sampled Ray Charles' hit "Georgia on My Mind".

Foxx would also portray Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Foxx is the third male in history (after Barry Fitzgerald and Al Pacino) to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies, Collateral and Ray. In 2005, Foxx was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Foxx released his second studio album, Unpredictable, in December 2005. It debuted at No. 2, selling 598,000 copies in its first week, rising to No. 1 the following week and selling an additional 200,000 copies. To date, the album has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA. The album also charted on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at No. 9. Foxx became the fourth artist to have both won an Academy Award for an acting role and to have achieved a No. 1 album in the U.S, joining Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Barbra Streisand. Foxx's first single from the album, the title track "Unpredictable" (featuring Ludacris), peaked in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and also made the UK Top 20 singles chart; the track samples "Wildflower" by New Birth. The second US single from the album was "DJ Play a Love Song," which reunited Foxx with Twista. In the UK, the second single was "Extravaganza", which saw Foxx once again collaborate with Kanye West, although Foxx did not feature in the song's music video.

At the 2006 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Foxx won Best Duet/Collaboration with Kanye West for "Gold Digger" and tied with Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" for Video of the Year. On December 8, 2006, Foxx received four Grammy Award nominations, which included Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Love Changes featuring Mary J. Blige, Best R&B Album for Unpredictable, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictable featuring Ludacris.

Following on from these successes, Foxx went on to appear in the box-office hits Jarhead, Miami Vice and Dreamgirls, which lifted his profile even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood.

2007–2009: Intuition

2007 brought him the lead role in the action thriller film The Kingdom opposite Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Ashraf Barhom. In September 2007, Foxx was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: "[it was] one of the most amazing days of my life," said Foxx. In April 2009, Foxx played the lead role in the dramatic film The Soloist. A few months later in October 2009, he played a starring role alongside Gerard Butler in the thriller Law Abiding Citizen. In 2007, his company FoxxKing Entertainment signed deals with MTV and VH1.

Foxx released his third album titled Intuition in 2008, featuring Kanye West, T.I., Ne-Yo, Lil' Kim and T-Pain. The album's first single, "Just Like Me" featuring T.I., was promoted by a video directed by Brett Ratner which featured an appearance by actress Taraji P. Henson. The second single "Blame It" featured T-Pain and became a top 5 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and a number-one single on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The "Blame It" music video, directed by Hype Williams, features cameo appearances by Forest Whitaker, Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Howard, Quincy Jones and his Jarhead co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, amongst others.

Foxx's musical career has also included a number of collaborations. In 2007, he recorded the song "She Goes All the Way" with country superstars Rascal Flatts for their Still Feels Good album. Foxx performed backing vocals for artist/songwriter Tank. He featured alongside The-Dream on Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands." He also appeared alongside Fabolous on the remix of Ne-Yo's "Miss Independent". Foxx collaborated with rapper The Game on the track "Around the World". Foxx also featured on T.I.'s single "Live in the Sky" from the album King.

On January 22, 2007, Foxx launched The Foxxhole, a channel on Sirius Satellite Radio featuring talk-radio programs, stand-up comedy albums and music primarily by African-American performers, as well as much of Foxx's own material. Foxx's own talk-radio variety program The Jamie Foxx Show airs Friday evenings on The Foxxhole with guests including musicians, actors and fellow comedians; co-hosts have included Johnny Mack, Speedy, Claudia Jordan, The Poetess, Lewis Dix, Yvette Wilson, T.D.P and Tyrin Turner. On the April 17, 2009 episode of The Jamie Foxx Show, Foxx and his co-hosts made several sexually suggestive and disparaging jokes regarding the teenage singer Miley Cyrus. Several days later Foxx issued a public apology on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in response to growing public outcry and televised criticism by Cyrus's father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus.

On April 6, 2009, Foxx, a longtime fan of country music, performed the George Strait song "You Look So Good in Love" at the George Strait Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert. Jamie Foxx hosted the 2009 BET Awards ceremony on June 28, 2009, which featured several tributes to pop star Michael Jackson, who had died three days prior to the show. As well as performing "Blame It" with T-Pain and "She Got Her Own" with Ne-Yo and Fabolous, Foxx opened the show with a rendition of Jackson's "Beat It" dance routine and closed the show with a cover of The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" with Ne-Yo. "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else.", said Foxx during the ceremony.

2010–2012: Best Night of My Life and Django Unchained
In April 2011, Foxx voiced the cartoon canary Nico in the movie Rio. During the summer of 2011, Foxx was involved as a producer of In the Flow with Affion Crockett on Fox.

Foxx released his fourth album, Best Night of My Life, on December 21, 2010, featuring the singles "Winner" (featuring Justin Timberlake and T.I.), "Living Better Now" (featuring rapper Rick Ross) and "Fall for Your Type" (featuring rapper Drake). On October 7, the RCA Music Group announced that it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records, meaning that all artists (including Foxx) previously signed to the three labels will release their future material on the RCA Records brand. In 2011, Jamie Foxx also featured on the rapper Pitbull's album Planet Pit, in the song "Where Do We Go".

In 2012, Foxx starred in the title role of the Quentin Tarantino written and directed Django Unchained. Foxx starred alongside his Ray co-star Kerry Washington, as well as Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson. In an interview about Django Unchained, Foxx told Vibe magazine: "As a black person it's always racial. ... when I get home my other homies are like how was your day? Well, I only had to be white for at least eight hours today, [or] I only had to be white for four hours." The filming was emotional as Foxx said, "It's tough shooting when you're in plantation row and that's where your ancestors were persecuted and killed."

On November 25, 2012, at BET's Soul Train Awards, Foxx joked: "It's like church in here. First of all, giving honor to God and our lord and savior Barack Obama." The joke led to condemnation from some Christians, to which Foxx responded: "I'm a comic [and] sometimes I think people get a little too tight." While hosting Saturday Night Live on December 8, 2012, to promote Django Unchained, Foxx joked about being excited "to kill all the white people in the movie". Appearing at the 2013 NAACP Image Awards, Foxx praised the achievements of black people, saying that "black people are the most talented people in the world".

2013–present: White House Down, Baby Driver, Hollywood and Project Power
In 2013, Foxx was cast as President James Sawyer in White House Down alongside Channing Tatum. The following year, Foxx appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the villain Electro, and co-starred with Quvenzhané Wallis in Annie, Sony's Will Smith and Jay-Z produced update of the comic strip-turned-musical. In 2017, Foxx starred as Bats, a trigger-happy gang member, in Edgar Wright's action film Baby Driver.

Foxx's October 2014 Deja Vu duet with Dionne Warwick appears on the Feels So Good album released by Warwick. He released his fifth studio album, Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses, on May 18, 2015. It debuted atop the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and at No. 10 on the Billboard 200. In 2015, Foxx's voice was featured in the chorus on the Ariana Grande song, "Focus".

Since its debut in 2017, Foxx has been the host and executive producer of the Fox game show Beat Shazam, whose premise is similar to the once-popular game show format Name That Tune. On the show, three sets of two partners try to beat the software application Shazam in correctly identifying the titles of popular songs for increasingly higher amounts of money, with one team eventually vying for a potential prize of $1 million. Foxx's daughter Corinne began co-hosting the show in its second season in 2018, replacing DJ October Gonzalez. The show has aired four seasons so far.

Foxx co-executive produced the 2017 Showtime sitcom White Famous, which starred Jay Pharoah as a young aspiring African-American comic, and was based on Foxx's own early career. Foxx also occasionally appeared on the show as himself. White Famous got middling reviews and ratings, and was cancelled after one season.

On May 22, 2019, Foxx appeared as George Jefferson in Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons on ABC. That year, he played wrongly convicted death row prisoner Walter McMillian in the drama film Just Mercy, for which he received significant critical acclaim.

Foxx starred in Project Power, directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dominique Fishback, which was released on August 14, 2020, by Netflix.

On November 13, 2019, Foxx was cast as the voice lead in the Pixar film Soul. Soul was set to be released theatrically on June 19, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney delayed the film's release to December 25, 2020, on Disney+.

In 2020, Foxx signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. 

Foxx co-created, executive produced and starred in the 2021 Netflix sitcom Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!, in which he played the single father of two teenage girls. The series marked Foxx's return to the sitcom format after The Jamie Foxx Show ended in 2001. The entire eight-episode series premiered April 14, 2021 on Netflix. It was cancelled after one season.

He reprised his role as Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In 2021, Foxx released the memoir Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me, which focused on his family life, both as a child and as an adult.

Upcoming projects 
On May 29, 2018, Foxx was cast as Al Simmons in a planned reboot of the Spawn film franchise, to be directed by Todd McFarlane. In 2015, Foxx became attached to portray former boxer Mike Tyson in a biographical drama film Finding Mike; in 2020, he began to exercise in order to gain muscle for the role. In 2021, the project turned into a miniseries, to be directed by Antoine Fuqua.

Legal issues
In April 2003, Foxx was involved in an incident with two police officers who were attempting to escort him and his sister out of Harrah's casino in New Orleans. Employees claimed the Foxx party had failed to show identification upon entry. Originally charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace, battery on police officers and resisting arrest, Foxx pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in exchange for the other charges being dropped, and was sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term with two years of probation and a $1,500 fine.

Personal life

Foxx has two daughters: Corinne (born 1994) and Anelise (born August 2009). Corinne made her formal debut at the Bal des débutantes in November 2014 and was named Miss Golden Globe 2016 on November 18, 2015.

In 2008, Foxx filmed a public service announcement for Do Something to promote food drives in local communities.

From 2013 to 2019, Foxx was in a relationship with actress Katie Holmes.

On January 18, 2016, Foxx rescued a young man from a burning vehicle that crashed outside his home. The driver, Brett Kyle, was driving his truck "at a high rate of speed" when the truck left the road, traveled into a drainage ditch, and rolled over several times. Kyle was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

On October 26, 2020, Foxx announced via Instagram that his 36-year-old sister Deondra Dixon had died. Dixon was born with Down syndrome and had been an ambassador for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.

Filmography

Discography

 Peep This (1994)
 Unpredictable (2005)
 Intuition (2008)
 Best Night of My Life (2010)
 Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses (2015)

Tours
 The Unpredictable Tour (2006)
 The Blame It Tour (2009)

Stand-up specials
 Jamie Foxx: Straight from the Foxxhole (1993)
 Jamie Foxx: I Might Need Security (2002)
 Jamie Foxx Unleashed: Lost, Stolen and Leaked! (2003)

Book 
Foxx, Jamie (with Nick Chiles). Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me. 2021: Grand Central Publishing. .

Accolades

See also
 List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
List of actors nominated for two Academy Awards in the same year
 List of black Academy Award winners and nominees
 List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees

References

External links

 
 
 
 

 
1967 births
Living people
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American singers
African-American game show hosts
African-American male actors
African-American male comedians
African-American male singers
American adoptees
American comedy musicians
American contemporary R&B singers
American hip hop singers
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male singers
American male television actors
American stand-up comedians
Baptists from Texas
Best Actor Academy Award winners
Best Actor BAFTA Award winners
Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Comedians from Texas
Grammy Award winners
Male actors from Texas
Method actors
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners
People from Terrell, Texas
RCA Records artists
Singers from Texas
United States International University alumni
For the Love of Ray J 2  is the second season of For the Love of Ray J on VH1.  This season Ray J will bring 19 women to see which one is the love of his life.

Contestants

Call-out order

 The contestant won Ray J's love.
 The contestant went on an individual date with Ray J.
 The contestant went on a group date with Ray J.
 The contestant went on a group date and won some alone time with Ray J.
 The contestant was not see receiving a glass, but was briefly shown holding one and stayed.
 The contestant was eliminated.
 The contestant won a date with Ray J, but was eliminated.
 The contestant won a  solo date with Ray J, but was eliminated.
 The contestant quit the competition.

Notes
 In Episode 5, Ray J went on a date with every girl.
 In Episode 6, Jaguar won the challenge, won a solo date, but was still eliminated.
 In Episode 7, Ray did not hand out glasses, but said who was safe in order.
 In Episode 8, There were no challenges or dates, Ray had 2 girls from last season come back and review feedback from the girls to him to help make his decision.
 In Episode 11, there was no elimination due to Luscious quitting the competition.

Episodes

That's What's Up

First aired: November 2, 2009
 Bottom 4: Diego, Fettucini, Luscious, Tipsy
 Eliminated: Tipsy, Diego, Fettucini

Reasons for elimination
 Tipsy: Ray J felt he had no connection with her, due to her being too tipsy.
 Diego: Ray J felt she was only getting know Ray J as an artist, not as a person.
 Fettucini: Ray J felt she wanted to date him for his celebrity status.

Episode notes
 During elimination, when Ray J got down to one glass, he said there were only four women left, but there are five women seemingly without glasses.  Gifts is not seen receiving a glass, but she is shown holding one. 
 When talking to Diego, Ray J listed his 5 favorite R&B artists to be Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, and Ray Charles.
 Fettucini has claimed on the way to the house that she has dated Tyson Beckford.
 Gifts was originally going to be called Jingle Bells by Ray J, but it was changed to Gifts on advice from Lil B.
 Just like Chardonnay on the first episode of the first season, Extra did splits for Ray J.

Ray's Leading Ladies

First aired: November 9, 2009
 Challenge: Create Movie Scenes To Act Out With Ray
 Challenge winners: Jaguar, Lava, Luscious
 Bottom 3: Extra, Gifts, Trouble
 Eliminated: Gifts, Trouble

Reasons for elimination
 Gifts: Ray J felt her movie scene she created was confusing, picturing the relationship being only sexual, equating it to a one-night stand with "no happy ending".
 Trouble: Ray J heard from the other girls she was too drunk and she was ready to give up.

Episode notes
 In her movie scene, Just Right alluded to Ray J's sex tape with Kim Kardashian.
 Ray J immediately picked the three girls (Jaguar, Luscious, and Lava) who won dates with him first during elimination.
 In a bonus clip, when Ray J was talking to Heartbreaker, a cameraman accidentally slip and fell in the pool.
 In a bonus clip, Ray J stated that he does not like girls having onion breath.

Not Again Dre...

First aired: November 16, 2009
 Guest star: La La, Super Crew
 Challenge: Dance Battle Challenge
 Team 1 (Hot Damn Crew): Caliente, Exotica, Extra, Jaguar, Paradeez
 Team 2 (Stingrays): Adorable, Flossy, Heartbreaker, Platinum, Popper,
 Team 3 (Talk Of The Town): Just Right, Lava, Lucsious, Mz. Berry
 Challenge winner(s): Team 3 (Talk Of The Town)
 Bottom 3: Just Right, Lava, Luscious
 Eliminated: Just Right, Lava

Reasons for elimination
 Just Right: Ray J felt no chemistry between her.
 Lava: Ray J felt Lava was too demanding and weird.

Episode notes
 Ray J's friend DJ Dre Sinatra told Ray J that he slept with Luscious.  In the first season, it was revealed that Danger slept with Ray J's producer Detail.
 Extra had shorter hair in this episode, being noticeable during elimination.
 Unlike the previous episode, all the girls who won the date were at the chopping blocks, with the exception of Mz. Berry, who got her glass first.

Too Little Too Late

First aired: November 23, 2009
 Challenge: Style Ray For A Sean John Photo Shoot
 Team 1: Flossy, Jaguar, Platinum
 Team 2: Extra, Heartbreaker, Luscious
 Team 3: Exotica, Paradeez, Popper
 Team 4: Adorable, Caliente, Mz Berry
 Challenge Winner(s): Flossy, Jaguar, Platinum
 Solo Date: Jaguar
 Bottom 3: Adorable, Jaguar, Popper
 Eliminated: Popper, Adorable

Reasons for Elimination
 Popper: Ray J felt Popper came off a little too strong.
 Adorable: Ray J felt she's not making an effort to connect with him.
Episode Notes
 Unlike previous episodes, Ray J send his message in person instead of a video message.

Mean Girls

First aired: November 30, 2009
 Challenge:  None
 Challenge Winner(s):  None
 1st Destination: Beach
 1st Date: Caliente, Extra, Flossy, Platinum
 1st Solo Date: Mz. Berry
 2nd Destination: Bowling
 2nd Date: Exotica, Heartbreaker, Jaguar
 Exotica: 16 pts.
 Jaguar: 76 pts.
 Heartbreaker: 77 pts.
 Win/Alone Time: Heartbreaker
 3rd Destination: Backyard Spa Treatment
 3rd Date: Luscious, Paradeez
 Bottom 2: Heartbreaker, Paradeez
 Eliminated: Paradeez

Reasons for elimination
 Paradeez: Ray J felt Paradeez never had a connection with him even after their one-on-one date.  He felt that Paradeez is boring and has nothing to say to him.

Episode notes
 Ray J has a date with every girl, instead of having a challenge.
 Heartbreaker throws a glass of wine on Flossy, but Flossy told Ray J that Luscious threw it first.
 Caliente tackles Flossy while playing football on the beach with Ray J.
 Jaguar, Heartbreaker, and Exotica wanted to battle for alone time for Ray J by bowling.
 Ray J took Mz. Berry to Beso, a restaurant founded by Eva Longoria in Hollywood.
 When Ray J asked some questions concerning Mz. Berry's divorce, Mz. Berry interviewed she was actually glad he asked those questions.
 Lil B does not appear in this episode, but she appears in a bonus clip where she deliberates with Ray J.

Ray J Fever

First aired: December 7, 2009
 Guest Star: Brandy, La La
 Challenge: Come Up To Four Lyrics And Performance To Make A 70's Song
 Las Reinas De Oro: Caliente, Exotica, Jaguar
 The Sun Rays: Extra, Flossy, Mz. Berry
 The Wolf Pack: Heartbreaker, Luscious, Platinum
 Challenge Winner(s): Caliente, Exotica, Jaguar
 Solo Date: Jaguar
 Bottom 2: Exotica, Jaguar
 Eliminated: Jaguar

Reasons for Elimination
 Jaguar: After four dates, Ray J still could not feel a connection, due to her still having a wall.  Due to this, Ray felt she is taking the connection too slow.

Episode Notes
 Caliente brought drinks to Ray J and Exotica to interrupt and end Exotica's one-on-one time with Ray.
 Extra gets a one on one time with Ray J, but Heartbreaker cut it short.
 Heartbreaker, Luscious, and Platinum gave Ray a bubble bath.
 Ray J and Jaguar sing together during their solo date. Ray J later completes and records the song titled "Can we fall in love"

The Amazing Rays

First aired: December 14, 2009
 Guest Stars: DeShawn Stevenson of the Washington Wizards, Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers, Shorty Mack
 Challenge: Race Through Los Angeles
 Blue Team: Heartbreaker, Mz. Berry
 Green Team: Flossy, Luscious
 Pink Team: Caliente, Platinum
 Yellow Team: Exotica, Extra
 Challenge Winner(s): Caliente, Platinum
 2nd Place: Exotica, Extra
 3rd Place: Flossy, Luscious
 4th Place: Heartbreaker, Mz. Berry
 Bottom 2: Extra, Mz. Berry
 Eliminated: Extra

Reasons for Elimination
 Extra: Ray felt she was treating him more like a crush than a love interest.

Episode Notes
 Ray went back to address the girls the challenge on video.
 Ray did not hand out glasses, but said who was safe in order.  But at the end of elimination, he spray champagne among the girls.
 After eating the chili cheese dogs, the green team, pink, and the yellow team chose the athletic challenge (each girl shoots a three-pointer), while the blue team chose the artistic challenge (girls plays out a melody).
 Mz. Berry cried three times in this episode: crying after coming in last in the challenge, during lunch with Lil B and the rest of the girls (excluding Caliente), and in Ray's bedroom.

Dangers Liaisons

First aired: December 21, 2009
 Special Guest:  Chardonnay and Danger from the first season
 Challenge: None
 Challenge Winner(s): None
 Bottom 3: Exotica, Flossy, Heartbreaker
 Eliminated: Exotica, Flossy

Reasons for Elimination
 Exotica: Ray eliminated her because she's not making an effort to spending more time with him.
 Flossy: Ray felt she was a little too young for him.

Episode Notes
 Danger & Chardonnay from Season 1 came back to help Ray make his decision.
 Most of Danger's and Chardonnay's feedback of the girls were negative partly due to fact that both of them still has some feelings for Ray.  Ray later felt that bringing Chardonnay and Danger could be a mistake.
 In two bonus clips, Ray found out that Heartbreaker had a brown tooth.
 The night Chardonnay came to the house, Flossy was so drunk that she peed in the potted plant instead of walking to the bathroom.

The Truth Will Set You Free

First aired: January 4, 2010
 Challenge: Lie Detector Test
 Challenge Winner(s): N/A
 Bottom 2: Heartbreaker, Platinum
 Eliminated: Heartbreaker

Reasons for Elimination
 Heartbreaker: Ray felt that she broke his heart when he found out that she does not want to end up with him.

Episode Notes
 Since the 70's challenge, Heartbreaker, Luscious, and Platinum have kept their group name The Wolfpack.  But during this episode, the three girls have bigger concerns for Ray J than Caliente and Mz. Berry.  During elimination, Ray J finally disbanded the group by sending Heartbreaker home.
 The reason why Mz. Berry does not trust Ray because there are other girls around in the competition.
 Ray found out that Caliente is also a TV show host and she has a long first name, being shortened to one name for immigration purposes.
 Ray was disappointed at Luscious for being "soft" on Platinum through interrogation.
 Ray found out that Platinum still has some feelings for her ex-boyfriend.

The Breaking Point

First aired: January 11, 2010
 First Date: Mz. Berry, Luscious
 Second Date: Caliente, Platinum
 Alone Time: Mz. Berry
 Bottom 2: Platinum, Caliente
 Eliminated: Caliente

Reasons for Elimination
 Caliente: Ray felt that Caliente is holding back her feelings and she is not serious in committing to a strong relationship.

Episode Notes
 During elimination, Ray wanted to talk to each girl privately.
 Ray took Luscious and Mz. Berry horseback riding.
 Ray took Caliente and Platinum go-kart racing.
 Even though Mz. Berry spend a night with Ray, she is still jealous of the other girls being around Ray the next day.  Ray later told Mz. Berry during elimination that he needs to spend time with every girl so he can make the right decision.

Homie Invasion

First aired: January 18, 2010
 Guest Stars: Snoop Dogg, Brandy, Tom Green, Shorty Mack, Noel "Detail" Fisher
 Challenge: None
 Challenge Winner(s): None
 Bottom: None
 Quit: Luscious

Reasons for Quitting
 Luscious: She felt disrespected when Ray's friends kept chanting that she "smashed the homie" and felt Ray did not do anything to stop them.
Episode Notes
 Brandy asked each girl, if they are not chosen, who will be chosen?  Luscious picked Platinum, Platinum surprisingly picked Mz. Berry, while Mz. Berry picked no one.
 Brandy chose Mz. Berry for Ray to pick, while Snoop chose Platinum.  Ray's other homies cannot make a decision as a group.
 When Luscious felt like she wanted to give up, this upsets Ray so much that he tells her to leave the house.
 After Luscious left, Ray talked to Mz. Berry and Platinum and told them that Luscious would have been eliminated anyway.

Clip Show

First aired: January 25, 2010

Includes:
 Trouble being too drunk.
 Girls love to dance.
 Extra being extra.
 The Wolfpack targeting different girls in the house.
 Luscious being quirky.
 Caliente learning English.
 Danger bossing around the other girls.
 Chardonnay attempting to come back to the competition, but Ray saying no.

Episode notes
 After Luscious went home, Mz. Berry and Platinum also met Ray's parents.
 Just like in season one, Ray's mother said no to both girls for Ray, but she and Ray's father asked Ray to consider the pros and cons of being with each girl.

Come Away With Me

First aired: February 1, 2010
 Dates: Ray J takes each girl on an individual date.
 Platinum's Date: Went to Las Vegas
 Mz.Berry's Date: Went on Ray's yacht
 Winner: Mz. Berry

Reasons for Elimination
 Platinum: Ray felt that Platinum reminded him of his past relationships.

Episode Notes
 Once Mz. Berry was chosen the winner, winning Ray's heart, both Ray and Mz. Berry flew off on a private jet to a destination unknown.

Reunion Show

First aired: February 8, 2010
 Ray reunites with all the girls in the house.
 Lava reveals that she has been dating Jamaican Olympic sprinter, Usain Bolt.
 Ray realizes that eliminating Jaguar was a mistake, hinting that he has feelings for her.
 Ray apologizes to Jaguar for eliminating her and she tells him that they can get together someday if he and Mz. Berry do not work out.
 Ray sees Mz. Berry for the first time in 5 months.  But Mz. Berry stated later that she did see Ray before the reunion.
 Cocktail, the winner from Season 1, comes on the show to warn Mz. Berry that Ray cannot be tied down to one woman.
 Ray and Cocktail get in a heated argument.

References

External links
 

2009 American television seasons
2010 American television seasons "Come Dancing" is a 1982 song written by Ray Davies and performed by British rock group the Kinks on their 1983 album State of Confusion. The song was inspired by Davies' memories of his older sister, Rene, who died of a heart attack while dancing at a dance hall. The lyrics, sung from the perspective of an "East End barrow boy," are about the boy's sister going on dates at a local Palais dance hall.

When first released as a single in United Kingdom in November 1982, "Come Dancing" failed to chart. Although Arista Records founder Clive Davis had reservations about releasing the single in the United States due to the English subject matter of dance halls, the track saw an American single release in April 1983. "Come Dancing" reached number six on the Hot 100, becoming the band's highest US charting single in over a decade and tying with "Tired of Waiting for You" as the band's highest-charting single ever. This success was achieved largely with the help of a promotional music video directed by Julien Temple that saw frequent airing on MTV. As a result of its American success, the single was re-released in Britain. Unlike its first release, the single became a top 20 British hit, reaching number 12.

In addition to its presence on State of Confusion, "Come Dancing" has appeared on numerous compilations albums since its release. It spawned a successful follow-up single, "Don't Forget to Dance," which became a top 40 hit in the United States. Come Dancing, a musical written by Ray Davies that premiered in 2008, was named after the song.

Background

"Come Dancing" is a tribute to the Davies' older sister Rene. Living in Canada with her reportedly abusive husband, the 31-year-old Rene was visiting her childhood home in Fortis Green at the time of Ray Davies' 13th birthday—21 June 1957—on which she surprised him with a gift of the Spanish guitar he had tried to persuade his parents to buy him. That evening, Rene, who had a weak heart as a result of a childhood bout of rheumatic fever, suffered a fatal heart attack while dancing at the Lyceum ballroom.

Ray later said that the song was an attempt to return to the "warmer" style they had prior to their transformation to an arena rock act, explaining, "I wanted to regain some of the warmth I thought we'd lost, doing those stadium tours. 'Come Dancing' was an attempt to get back to roots, about my sisters' memories of dancing in the '50s."

Davies later claimed that the song was about a type of petty criminals known as a spiv, saying, "it was about an East End spiv, sung in a London voice. If anybody had lost any faith in us being real people, that record ['Come Dancing'] would restore it." Davies also claimed that the song was sung from a street peddler or  "barrow boy's" point of view, saying, "['Come Dancing'] is sung by an East End barrow boy—I think there's cockney rhyming slang in it!"

Writing and recording

In a 1983 interview, Ray Davies claimed that writing the song was an "easy" and quick process, but the idea for the song had been in his head for a long time. He reportedly began writing the song in March 1982 on a flight home from Tokyo using a newly purchased Casio keyboard. The song was completed in London that October. Author Nick Hasted claimed that the song was also written "to reach out to the Kinks' lost British audience." The opening verse appears to be a development of the first line of Lionel Bart's Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be: 'They changed our local Palais into a bowling alley'.

A demo for the song was created at Konk Studios, the recording facility in Hornsey that Ray Davies owned, in October 1982. A master backing track with bass, acoustic guitar, and drums was made during that same month, with overdubs following. Dave Davies later claimed that the recording was completed on the day after an intense argument with brother Ray. Also completed that month was "Don't Forget to Dance," which later competed with "Come Dancing" for the A-side of the first single from State of Confusion.

In the song, Ray Davies sang in a strong British accent, later claiming that he "tried to retain the Englishness." While recording "Come Dancing," Ray was asked to sing in an "American accent," a request he turned down. He said of this, "Back when the Kinks were recording 'Come Dancing,' which was a big hit in the States, the record company actually asked me to sing it in more of an American accent. I just refused." Ray has singled out Mick Avory's drum performance on the song, saying, "Just keep Mick Avory nervous, and you'll get great performances from him. He's responsible for some of the great comedy drum parts. His drum roll into 'Come Dancing,' ... it's totally a beat late. It's totally unplanned, and that's what was so magical, when we were rolling."

Release

When deciding the band's next single, Ray Davies pushed for "Come Dancing" to be released rather than "Don't Forget to Dance," which had been suggested by the record company as the first single from State of Confusion. The UK branch of Arista Records approved this decision, releasing 7-inch and 12-inch versions of the new single on 19 November 1982 with "Noise" as the B-side. However, Clive Davis initially had reservations; Davies recalls that Davis "didn't want to put it [Come Dancing] out because it was too much of an English subject matter". Davis also thought it was just a "ditty" and did not have enough substance to be a single.

The US single of the song was finally released on 21 April 1983 after Davis was convinced by the success of the track's music video and the impressive US sales of import copies of the single. The track's promotional video became a staple of the fledgling MTV network, which gave the single sufficient momentum to enter the Billboard Hot 100 that May, ascending to the Top 40 in June 1983 and peaking at number six on 11 July. "Come Dancing" became the highest charting US single of the band's career, tying "Tired of Waiting for You" from 1965.

"Come Dancing" was re-released during July 1983 in Britain due to its immense popularity in America, thus delaying the UK release of follow-up "Don't Forget to Dance" in the process. The track entered the chart at 92 on 24th July, and crept to 65, 43 and 29, before peaking at number twelve on the UK singles chart on 27 August 1983. A Top of the Pops broadcast on 24 September 1983 featured videos of several current US hits including a lip-sync performance of "Come Dancing" by the band and a three-piece horn section, the Kinks' first appearance on the show since 1972. On 27 October 1983, Ray was given the One of the Most Played Songs of 1983 award by ASCAP for the song. "Don't Forget to Dance" was later released as a follow-up single, charting at number 29 in the United States.

Despite the success the single reached, it would be one of the Kinks' final hits in either Britain or America, ending the comeback the band had during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Ray said in 1996, "[I] wanted to quit in 1984, after 'Come Dancing.' I felt that that was the end of an era for the Kinks, and I wanted to stop the treadmill and step back and reappraise the whole thing, but we had another album to deliver. It seemed like we always had another album to deliver." Mick Avory left the band in 1984, a year after "Come Dancing" peaked in the USA. He later said, "I think leaving after a world wide hit with 'Come Dancing' was a good note to leave on."

Following its release, the song became a mainstay in the band's live set-list until the band's break-up. Live versions of the song appeared on both 1988's Live: The Road and the 1996 US double-album version of To the Bone. The studio version of the song has also appeared on multiple compilations, being used as the namesake for the 1986 greatest-hits package Come Dancing With the Kinks: The Best of the Kinks 1977–1986.

Critical reception
"Come Dancing" has generally received positive reviews from music critics. In his review of State of Confusion, Rolling Stone critic Parke Puterbaugh said that the song "sums up the bittersweet mood that wafts through [State of Confusion] in calming counterpoint to its more turbulent moments." George Kalogerakis, also of Rolling Stone,  said in his review of the album Live: The Road that the song was an "undeniable winner," claiming that "hearing [the song] in th[is] crackling live version is like running into [an] old friend." AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted the song as one of the "quieter moments" on State of Confusion where the album "came to life," praising its "buoyant nostalgia." On the band's Rolling Stone biography, the song was called "delightfully nostalgic." Author Rob Jovanovic called the song "incredibly catchy" and said that, as the song's title suggested, it "made [him] want to move his feet." Andrew Hickey said in his book, Preservation: The Kinks' Music 1964–1974, that the track was a "great pop song." Thomas M. Kitts praised its "big band sound" in his book, Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else.

According to Acclaimed Music, "Come Dancing" is the 10,000th most celebrated song in popular music history.

Music video

The promotional music video for "Come Dancing" was shot in November 1982 at Ilford Palais in Essex. The video was produced by Michael Hamlyn and directed by Julien Temple, with choreography done by Jim Cameron. Dave Davies later said of Temple, "Julian was such a posey sod, walking around in a fur coat like he was Orson Welles, even though he was only doing a promo video." Local fans of the band appeared as the audience. The video was first broadcast in Britain in December 1982 on The Tube, a show on Channel 4, making its American debut on MTV on 25 March 1983.

In the video, the lyrics of "Come Dancing" are used as the storyline. Calling back to his youth, Ray starred as the "spiv" character who took the sister out to dance. Ray's character, according to author Johnny Rogan, was inspired by the Davies brothers' uncle, Frank Willmore, who Dave Davies described as "an old school kind of cockney". The members of the Kinks were featured as the band performing at the palais at the end of the video, with the spiv character solemnly watching the performance. Temple said of this scene, "I was standing behind [Martin] Scorsese at a bar, and he was going on about that shot, saying it was one of his favorites ever. There's a [Luis] Buñuel film, Simon of the Desert, where this guy who's been suffering on his pillar in the desert in BC whatever ends up in some weird club in Mexico City in '65. It's a bit like that. [Ray] did it beautifully, the fact he's so still and they're all heaving around him. I think Ray could have been more of an actor. He has a great, deep sense of film."

The band would revisit the spiv character Ray played in the video multiple times, such as in the music videos for "Don't Forget to Dance" and "Do It Again." According to Ray, the band's 1986 album Think Visual was originally going to be a concept album centered on taking the character and putting him in the "environment of a video shop." Ilford Palais was demolished in 2007 to make room for luxury flats, meeting a similar fate to that of the palais described in the lyrics of "Come Dancing."

Musical

"Come Dancing" served as the title number for a stage musical of the same name that Ray Davies had created. Set in a 1950s music hall, Come Dancing premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford East on 13 September 2008. Ray Davies had written the original version of the play in 1997, although he had begun work on it since not long after he had written the original song. The final version of Come Dancing featured a book co-written by Davies and Paul Sirett and a score written by Davies that included three Kinks hits (including the title song) and a number of original songs. Davies also appeared as the narrator in the production, which ran until 25 October 2008. Come Dancing was to be revived by director Bill Kenwright in January 2010, but this, to Ray Davies's disappointment, was cancelled.

Come Dancing received mixed reviews from critics. The Daily Telegraph spoke positively of the production, calling it "a winning show that deserves a bright future." The Times, however, criticized it for lacking a story-line, saying it was "a ragged and sentimental montage of scenes sorely in need of narrative." Davies would later premiere another musical, Sunny Afternoon (named after the 1966 Kinks song of the same name), in 2014, which he had written in 2005 after finding out that Come Dancing would not be staged.

Personnel

Personnel per Doug Hinman.

The Kinks
Ray Davies lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Dave Davies electric guitar, backing vocal
Mick Avory drums
Jim Rodford bass guitar, backing vocal
Ian Gibbons keyboard

Other musicians
John Beecham trombone
Noel Morris trumpet
Andy Hamilton tenor saxophone
Alan Holmes baritone saxophone
Kate Williams spoken voice

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References
Citations

Sources

Further reading

External links
 

1982 singles
The Kinks songs
Songs written by Ray Davies
Song recordings produced by Ray Davies
1983 singles
Arista Records singles
Songs based on actual events
Music videos directed by Julien Temple
British new wave songs
1982 songs
Songs about dancing